


Childhood Memories

by I Frostmere (Frostmere71)



Series: Infernal Knight [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 08:27:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13947708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostmere71/pseuds/I%20Frostmere





	Childhood Memories

She looked over the back of her horse, Her blue and pick tinted hair fell long over her face covering one of her violet eyes. Her pale blue skin was cast slightly purple in the lantern light of the stable. The blue roan was a solid horse, dependable, even tempered. She bushed slowly her tail lashing slowly from side to side as she spoke, the vestigial horns that protruded from her forehead tinted darker glossy blue contrasting with the pale colouring of her skin. 

“You would think for someone of my heritage being raised in a knighthood would have been difficult. Especially one sponsored by the religion of a celestial. You would be right, and not by half.” There was a sharp crack and she flicked her tail, She took a deep breath, stroking the brush through her mares coat, slowly rhythmically. For several minutes silence reigned apart from the soft nicker of the horses and the shifting of hooves on hay. 

“I learned to give welts with my tail. Children are far harsher sometimes than my instructors ever were.” She moved with an easy grace to the door of the stable and filled a couple of buckets with water from the rain barrel. Pouring it into the trough in her horses stall. “My teachers encouraged my fellow students to be.... enthusiastic with their practice blades. I was often bruised and limping for days. I did meet one kindly old knight. He was crippled, and barely was paid any heed by the others. Arian Tael, He had been taken in by the monastery, though I later learned the order he had followed, was no longer followed in that part of the realm. He ha lost a hand and his left leg below the knee. I later learned he had made the sacrifice ensuring others were safe. That is however a story for another time. It is, a little cliché.”

She placed some Lucerne in her horses trough, and mixed in a few cups of oats, continuing her tale as her horse lowered it's head into the trough and began to eat. “He was grooming me to take up his mantle though I did not know it at the time. So at five summers I heeded his advice. I began to run with weights, I trained with weights. I kept this hidden at his behest. I was scolded, beaten, I was slower in practice, slower at running. After the first year, I increased the weight. I made sure I always kept close to my students. At twelve summers I took my weights off.” She smirked slightly, her fanged canines making her look positively vicious. “I absolutely destroyed my fellow students. I was ...accosted by five of my classmates. I think that my penance was more from the tail welts than from the broken bones and cracked ribs. My teachers always felt using my tail was not appropriate to the knightly code, so I spent a week cleaning the chapel and latrines. It was worth every moment.” 

She opened the door to the inn, the fire light washing out into the inn yard. The common room went silent for a moment when she entered, then started up a moment or two after, several patrons nodded to her as she made her way over to a table. “Please sit” She motioned towards the bar and the waitress nodded. Slinging her cloth covered shield over the back of her chair she leaned her spear and the two staves it was bundled with against the wall. She unhooked her scabbard and slipped the baldric over her shoulder, draping the sword over the bottom of the chair. 

“The weights went back on of course, not so heavy that I gave my classmates any real advantage, but enough that I still took a few stinging hits. At sixteen summers I had basically stopped using them, Arian had begun teaching me theology, code, ethics, disputation. I lost him the next summer. I spent the knight sitting by his bed, fulfilling his death watch. He was buried in the Monastery's graveyard. In all honesty, I was the only one who paid him true honour.” 

She looked up as the waitress bought over two small dark loaves, bowls of stew and a pair of tankards of honeyed mead. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears though they still flashed with hot anger.

“Thank you Lissa”

“You are most welcome Ma'am” 

The tiefling handed the girl coins amounting far more than the meal was worth.

“How is your brother?”

“He is doing well Ma'am, thank you for finding him an apprenticeship with the baker” She nodded at the bread, “The loaves are his.” 

“Tell him he favorite devil said the smell divine” 

The two smirked at each other before the girl left and she continued. 

“I left of course, I found my calling had nothing to do with that particular order. I traveled far and encountered a few things of which I prefer not to speak before I found Arian's old comrades. They were somewhat diminished in numbers, though their reputation I found out was still untarnished. I won my spurs the following summer and found myself happily embracing the Order of the Dragon. A Code that lends itself to the protection of others, rather than other vainglorious pursuits.”

“Enough talk for now, eat up. There will be time for more later, it has been a long day for both of us.”


End file.
